Ed Cachine Honored with the First Jeanne Schauble Memorial Award

On February 1, 2012, the National Declassification Center (NDC) began a new tradition by awarding the first Jeanne Schauble Memorial award to Mr. Ed Cachine for outstanding contributions to the NDC and declassification community. The award was created to honor the memory of Jeanne Schauble, long-time Director of the Initial Processing and Declassification Division and first Deputy Director of the National Declassification Center. Jeanne was a pioneer in declassification review and release as well as an early advocate of inter-agency collaboration and cooperation. In many ways, the establishment of the NDC fulfilled her vision.

NDC staff members were asked to nominate a peer who over the course of the previous year made an outstanding contribution to the NDC by facilitating openness, streamlining declassification processes, making work more efficient, enhancing quality, serving customers, or strengthening collaboration between agencies. Several fine nominations were received, but it was Ed that stood out. For many years, Ed served as the monitor for controlling the movement of records into and out of classified stacks. He taught new staff members and reminded veteran ones of the proper procedures to be followed to ensure accountability of our archival holdings. He continues to be the “go-to” person for locating missing records and has earned the thanks of NARA and agency staff. In 2011, Ed took his expertise on the road by serving as the NARA liaison to the Department of Defense (DoD) Joint Referral Center (JRC). This is an off-site facility where archival records from DoD agencies are taken to be reviewed. He not only ensures that the archival integrity of the records is protected, but has become a valued member of the team.

In recognizing Ed’s dedication and commitment to the mission, Executive for Agency Services, Jay Bosanko remarked, “the work of the NDC is incredibly important – noble really- and it deserves our very best – we need to stay the course and do what is right, even in the face of immense pressure to deviate. Ed knows the importance of this and serves as an example for all of us!” Others, including Ed’s supervisor, AJ Daverede and Director of the JRC, Melissa Walker echoed Jay’s sentiment. Finally, Ed shared with all assembled one of the secrets of his success, with this quote from Booker T. Washington: “there is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem.” You can see this axiom lived daily in watching Ed work to fulfill the NDC’s promise of releasing all we can and protecting what we must.

I want to echo Paul’s sentiments. Although I did not work closely with Jeanne, it was always a pleasure when our paths did cross. I remember her fondly.

I want to commend the NDC for their ingenuity and creativity in developing such a special way to commemorate Jeanne and reward staff who make outstanding contributions to the declassification community. Well done!

My late sister Eva Krusten was a friend of and worked for Jeanne. I, too, knew and was a friend of Jeanne when I worked at NARA’s Nixon Project. Establishing an award in her honor is a wonderful way to remember her. I was so touched to read what my friend Jay said at the ceremony. Jay’s wise words and Ed’s insightful words say more about the Declass vibe than any press release ever could! I’ve included some photos of Jeanne in my own blog post about the award and plan to add some more pictures to it tomorrow. http://nixonara.wordpress.com/2012/02/21/noble-really/
Finally, thank you, Don, for capturing the spirit of the award, the core character of your workplace at what I call the New NARA, and the essence of Jeanne so beautifully.